Barber shop offers more than just a haircut

Walkerston business offers a safe space for men to chat

Jo Shanks has been cutting men's hair at her Walkerston barber shop, Barber Jo's, for 15 years. Picture: Lucy Martin

EVERY time Jo Shanks walks into her barber shop a quick look to the right tells her how many loyal customers she has.

There on an eye-catching feature wall are hundreds of loyalty cards representing regular clients of the Walkerston shop.

Barber Jo's opened its doors on January 12, 2004 and Ms Shanks is proud of the fact she recently celebrated 15 years in business.

"I believe this is quite an achievement in Mackay for a small, locally owned business,” she said.

In a filing cabinet she keeps is a book that charts her first days in business.

Day one there was one customer, day two there were seven, day three there were three customers. Her first client was a friend of her father-in-law.

"He wanted to be my first customer,” she recalled.

Since then business has boomed and Ms Shanks puts it down to customer service.

Her clients can walk in the door with no appointment, sit down and have some time out while having a tidy-up.

Ms Shanks started the Dutton Street business after noticing there was no barber shop in Walkerston.

She had trained in both hairdressing and barbering and with primary school aged children, the opportunity to open up her own business next to a school seemed perfect.

Her two eldest children attended St John's Catholic Primary School and were able to walk to the shop after school and wait while their mother worked.

Ms Shanks said it had been a highlight of the business that her customers had always respected her family time and her reasons behind not opening at weekends.

One of her memories from the past 15 years is going into labour with her third child while at work.

"I was cutting hair that day and went into labour - he was two and half weeks early,” she said.

Ms Shanks stayed at the shop until her contractions were three minutes apart. It had been her new employee's first day on the job, she said.

Now her busiest days are Mondays and Fridays, and late trading on Mondays is proving popular.

Men wanted a no-fuss approach, she said,and most clients were done within 10 to 15 minutes.

However, as the founder of depression and suicide awareness initiative Run for MI Life, Ms Shanks believes it's important for men to have a safe space to talk if they need to.

Her motto is 'Be Kind', you never know what someone is going through.

She wants her shop to be another avenue for them to come and talk.

"It's a safe space if they need to chat,” she said.

Being in a person's personal space through touch could sometimes build trust more quickly, she said, adding that one man had thanked her personally for just being there during a bad time in his life, even if she wasn't aware of it at the time.

Run for MI Life raised $55,000 in 2018 and planning is under way for 2019.

Ms Shanks said since the charity was started in 2014 in memory of her brother, Matthew Ivory, about $200,000 has been raised to change the perception of depression and suicide in the community and take away the negative stigma attached.

Originally published as Barber shop offers more than just a haircut